The Red Sox will have Jonny Gomes and David Ross in the lineup for the first half of Thursday's day-night doubleheader against the Rays, stacking the lineup with right-handed hitters against the left-handed Cesar Ramos.
It's a very similar lineup to what we saw on Tuesday night, with the only real difference being Will Middlebrooks moving up to seventh, shifting the catcher--in this case David Ross rather than A.J. Pierzynski--to eighth. Facing off against a recently converted reliever in Cesar Ramos--one who wasn't exactly amazing even out of the bullpen--the Red Sox have to be hoping for similar production to the seven runs they put up in the first game of the series.
Jake Peavy will get the start for the Red Sox, with Felix Doubront set to take the night game. The hope is that Peavy will be able to conserve the bullpen so that, should Doubront run into the sort of trouble he faced in his last outing, there will be plenty of arms to get the Sox to the finish line, hopefully still with a shot at a win.
First pitch is at 1:05 p.m. EST with broadcasts on NESN and WEEI.